Edith Apuuli

One of our friends died this week.
She was about my age, and her death was sudden and unexpected. We heard on Tuesday that she was having some bleeding and needed to go to Kampala to the hospital. By that evening the doctors and nurses thought she had stabilized. She was even up walking around a bit. However, the end was swift and seemed to come out of nowhere. One hour she was up and talking with her husband, the next hour she was dead. We are still grieving and would ask you to pray for her husband, Apuuli and her daughter (about Louisa’s age) Sandy.
Edith taught English at Christ School with us the very first year we opened in Bundibugyo. She and her husband had long worked in the district with World Harvest Mission serving us and the people here in a multitude of ways. While there are many “Edith stories” that come to mind, my favorite is from several years back, just after the war had ended . The army was still a serious presence, most people were still in refugee camps, but times were generally peaceful. Rumor came that an evil spirit was passing through our area. We heard the screams/banging of pots and drumming from miles away each night coming closer each time. People here were beginning to panic and talk was flying fast and furious. About 7 in the evening a mysterious fog rolled in (I kid you not, it was bizarre. I watched from our porch as it rolled over the soccer field.) All at once the banging and drumming started. The noise was intense as people all around responded in absolute terror and fear. In an effort to ward off the spirit everyone was making as much noise as humanly possible…. for HOURS. For many of our Christian Ugandan brother and sisters it was too difficult to trust that God would protect them. Many had taken up drumming and chanting… but not Edith. In the midst of the storm surrounding her, she was up washing dishes and singing praise songs with a determined, calm smile on her face. Such was her faith. We will miss her.
Kev drove to Fort Portal on Thursday to see the family. He had just arrived when Apuuli drove up with Edith’s body. We don’t really have the custom of hearses and funeral homes here. The family is responsible for getting a loved one’s body from the place of death to their home for burial. She was in a wooden casket with a glass window for viewing. Apuuli opened the door, saw Kevin, threw his arms around him and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. In a polygamous culture, in a place where wives are often seen as commodities that are collected and disgarded, here was a husband whose heart was broken over the loss of a dearly loved wife and best friend. What do you do at a time like that… Kev sat with him and heard that long story of her last hours and grieved with him, acknowledging the great sorrow and loss. People often ask, “Where is Jesus, in a time like that?” We would argue, right there in the midst of all of it. In the hurt and deep pain, as well as He was in the years of strong and abiding love.